Unfortunately, Sir Andrew Davis has had to withdraw from this Prom due to ill health. We are very grateful to Sakari Oramo who will replace him at short notice.
Mahler Symphony No. 10 will be replaced by Mahler Symphony No. 7.
Berg’s Violin Concerto will still be performed as advertised.
It is _extremely_ unfortunate that Sir Andrew Davis’ ill health caused the performance of Mahler’s 10th Symphony to be scrubbed out. Understandably a replacement conductor was required, but why did that have to cause Mahler’s 10th to be erased?? That was very bad – Mahler’s 10th would have been the most fascinating of ALL Proms performances!
Regarding Mr Perkins’s comment, the answer is obvious – Sakari Oramo doesn’t yet have Mahler 10 in his repertoire, and while Andrew Davis’s conducting of it may well have proved a special highlight, I for one am of the opinion that we were very fortunate that Oramo was available (on six days’ notice, and having just completed a run of The Magic Flute at the Savonlinna Opera Festival) and was able to prepare such a superb Mahler Seven (a score that IS in his repertoire) and also enter into a meaningful dialogue with Leila Josefowicz for the Berg VC, also compelling.
https://www.colinscolumn.com/bbc-proms-2023-prom-35-bbc-symphony-orchestra-sakari-oramo-conducts-mahler-seven-and-leila-josefowicz-plays-bergs-violin-concerto-live-on-bbc-radio-3/
The Mahler was terrific, and was the greatest musical highlight of my year so far. Judging by the audience response, this was a sentiment widely shared. I am grateful to all concerned.